“The main thing that has kept me here for 30 years is the atmosphere and the way people treat each other here. We’ve always had a great workspace here and we built it ourselves,” says IT manager Martin Jirků. He is one of the oldest employees of the Czech Toyota dealership, which is celebrating 30 years on the Czech market this year.
“Previously, car orders were collected by fax or phone. That was the 90s. Already in 2002, we created a web e-shop for dealers, through which they started ordering cars. That was very early for that time and that’s how it started to work over the internet at the time,” describes Martin Jirků.
From the beginning, the management of the Czech representative office of the largest Japanese car company was Japanese, then Europeans, today it is the Czech director. But the main burden and responsibility was always on the Czech employees. Technologies have changed, but the approach to people and problem solving is still the same, according to Martin Jirků. The current headquarters at Bavorská in Prague 13 is Toyota’s fourth location in the Czech Republic.
The Japanese had a satellite phone
In the early days, the Japanese felt the need to hedge against possible technical difficulties, especially during the transition to the year 2000. “They were afraid that there wouldn’t be any connection failure, every Japanese person got a satellite phone in case the electricity went out,” recalls Jirků with a smile.
According to him, Japanese colleagues and bosses have always treated people excellently, for example when there were downsizings, outgoing employees were given extremely good conditions.
The view of many Toyota employees on electromobility is perhaps surprisingly favorable. “In terms of driving characteristics, an electric motor cannot be compared to an internal combustion engine at all. It is much better and more effective.” emphasizes Jirků.
People cannot yet imagine what electromobility will bring
Daniela Štěrbová, a specialist in the after-sales department, has a similar mindset. “I am looking forward to the expansion of the electrical network. People cannot yet imagine what it will bring. The important moment will come when we convince people that this is one of the ways. When people realize the wider scope and advantages of electric cars. But we do not stick to one solution. I like that Toyota is going in multiple directions at once and has a vision for many years ahead.” says the oldest female employee, who joined Czech Toyota in October 1994 and still has her Corolla from 1997 in front of her house.
“At that time there were about ten of us in the office. Initially, only colleagues from Japan recruited people, only later Czechs led the selection process. Toyota has always been a generous company and let people develop even if they didn’t know the language, for example. The employees had the opportunity to learn, no one threw sticks under others’ feet, no one looked down on the less experienced ones,” describes Daniela Štěrbová.
30 years in one company? It works
“It was very lucky for many of us. For 30 years, the attitude among people, a lot of friendship and joint events, even after work, have kept me here, and that’s still here. There is a high cohesion between people here, newcomers are immediately well received,” supplies.
Toyota and its premium branch Lexus have sold a total of almost 46,000 hybrid cars in the 30 years of their activity on the Czech market. The share of hybrids in total sales is thus 32 percent for the entire period. In recent years, the share of Toyota sales has reached 70 percent for passenger cars and even over 90 percent for the Lexus brand.
Toyota started offering cars with a hybrid drive on the Czech market in 2007. The first models sold in the Czech Republic were the Lexus LS, GS and RX, and of course also the world’s first hybrid model, the Toyota Prius. In the very first year, the Czech representative office concluded contracts for 53 hybrid cars, of which 40 were Lexus.
The first plug-in hybrid model introduced in the Czech Republic was the Prius, which went on sale in 2012. It was followed by the Toyota RAV4 plug-in in 2020 and in 2021 and 2022 by another premium SUV, the Lexus NX and RX. The Toyota RAV4 is the best-selling plug-in overall for both brands. So far, 640 customers have ordered it with this drive.
2023-12-24 10:49:00
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